San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-16

in anybody's mind as to who had instigated
the duel between two men whom you have
been openly endeaVoring to set by the ears
ever since your arrival here? The best
thing that you can do now is to get your
fire eating Frenchman to make an apology,
which you will instruct Beauchamp to
accept"
Hilda's face was not ordinarily an ex-
pressive one; but as she turned it toward
me now, there swept across it look Of
such vindictive malice that l inwardly re-
canted my criticism upon her tragic capa-
bilities. However, she soon subdued that
passing emotion and laughed again II
don't in the least understand you" she
declared; 81 know nothing of any duel,
and how can help it if a couple of foolish
young men choose to quarrel? 1t appears
TO me that you have been drinking too
much wine, and should be much obliged
| if you would go away for the present"
'With pleasure" replied, rising. "DO
You absolutely refuse, then, to be peace
makerr'
II refuse" she answered somewhat de-
family, 'to be dictated to by you. l don't
believe what you say, and l shall not
make myself ridiculous by trying to
smooth down quarrel which most likely
exists only in your imagination"
That was all that / obtained from her;
but in truth had not expected more; and
in addressing such plain spoken remarks
to her | had been aCtuated rather by Gu
riosity az to how she would take them
than by any hope that they would divert
her from her purpose. The person whom
did hope to influence was De Vieuzac.
Him 1 waylaid an hour later, as he was
entering the smoking room, and drew him
| .,,tI L - i
joined that apartment, and which, fortu
| nately, was untenanted.
monsieur de Vieuzac," began, ''it is
quite out of the question that you should
fight young Beauchamp, and think you
will admit as much when | have given
| you my reasons for saying So"
He interrupted me with suave courtesy,
observing that the subject was no longer
one which he could properly discuss. Any
remarks which might have to make must
be addressed to his friends the Count de
Something ind the Marquis de Something
else, who would not fail to call upon ms
in due course.
| / replied that it would be needless to
| give his friends that trouble. "Of course"
continued, you will not pretend that
the Ostensible cause of your quarrel is the
real one"
1.-THE cause of quarrel, " returned he, sis
of perfect simplicity have used words
which decline to withdraw, and by which
Mr.. Beauchamp conceives himself to be
wounded. And permit me once more, sir,
| to tell you that this conversation is most
| irregular"
81 dare say it isl | rejOiEed, "but you
| had better listen to me all the same. The
| ln1y bn 10 af tho hot IF I'll tbiGf'
''Mr. Maynard" interrupted De Vieu-
FAC, at is impossible that l should listen
to you. You scandalize me-positively
| you scandaliZe me! What! You speak of
n lady!-you would perhaps in another
moment go so far as to mention her by
name! 1t is unheard of ! | must beg of
| you sir, to excuse me-" And he made for
| the door.
VERY well, said l, "have it your own
way, then, il you are determined to bring
about an explosion. Since you insist upon
| it, your friends shall talk the affair over
with me and with Lord Bracknell who
will be my cOadjutor.
De Vieuzac paused upon the threshold
| and pulled his mustache. Lord Brack-
nellr' he calculated. SIS that Mr. Beau
champs choice, may ask?''
''Oh, no; it is my choice. You heard
him give me leave to select colleague,
and such is the selection that propose to
| make
This brought the Frenchman to his
| bearings. lie returned slowly and con-
sented, under protest, to hear me. "What
is it that you have to say?' he inquired
| ''Why, simply this" | replied. 'Mr.
| Beauchamp, as you are probably not
aware, is the present holder of very large
estates, which, in the event of his dying
without ISSUE would pass to his cousin,
| Lord Brackncll. Consequently, if he
were to die suddenly within short time,
| a certain lady whose name we won't men
| ton would be snatched from the brink of
bankruptcy and raised to position of
great wealth. Now, suppose that, by a
misadventure which am sure you would
be the first to dcplOre, but which you
| might not be able to avert, you were to
kill that young man. What do you think
would be said of you and of the unnamed
| lady? Or suppose, without going so far
as that, that you only wounded him. Is
| it not certain that everybody would de-
clare that you had done your best to kill
him? To me, at any rate, it is very evil
dent that the insult which you offered
him to-day was a mere preteXt and that
you had deliberately made up your mind
to fasten quarrel upon him."
| The FrenChman' COuntenance while
was speaking, exhibited various phases of
emotion; but now he blazed forth with
sudden fury and sprung at me like wild
cat. Sir" he Missed out, do you dare
to accuse me of being an assassin"
Certainly not" l replied, drawing
back a few PAGES as a precautionary
| measure, "but | think you are in some
| danger of mourning that accusation from
| others" Then, as he eyed me in a sus-
| piciOus manner and appeared to be hesitat-
ing, l continued "Allow me, as an in
| sular barbarian, to speak the truth to you
| without phrases The fact is that you
have been made a cats paw of by the
most thoroughly INSCRIPTIONS woman of
my acquaintance. | venture to think
| that it would be more CONSTANT with
your honor and dignity to apologize to
| BeauChamp, whom you can't really be-
lieve to be coward, than to fight him
for the sake of Lady Bracknell, whom |
have known all my life, and who, l can
assure you, is not worth drop of honest
| blood. In any case depend upon it that
we shall not allow our man to go out with
| you. Lord Bracknell would not dare to
sanction such a meeting, even if he were,
what | am convinced he is not, as infam-
Gus a wretch rs his wife,
keep silencen' whispered De Vieuzac,
hurriedly.
But his caution came too late. In my
anxiety to bring conviction home to the
mind of my interlOcutOr, had not noticed
the entrance of third person, and now,
when looked round and saw Bracknell
standing close to my elbow, l perceived